I, too, remember Michael O’Neill, who was mentioned in Ann Oxrieder’s July 12 column and who passed away in June after a courageous battle with cancer.

Michael was not just a hairdresser. He was a friend, a confidant, a miracle worker on bad hair days, a great listener and story teller. There were several times when I would be sitting in the chair and Michael would just stare, really thinking about what I wanted and how best he could cut. He took his job very seriously and never took short cuts to finish up for his next client.

My husband also had his hair cut by Michael and one time he shared with Michael how he wished he would cut my hair really short like it was 20 or so years ago. My husband brought in an 8×10 picture and Michael placed it on a center wall at the receptionist desk the day he knew I was coming in. What a great laugh we had when I noticed the picture.

The best of all was when I shared with Michael that I was tossed a baseball at a Mariners game by John Olerud. He was a student of mine in Bellevue and having him toss me a ball was quite special. However, I wished that it could have been signed. He shared this story with Paul Abbot, who was also a client and the next time I had my hair appointment, Michael handed me another baseball with an inscription to me by John Olerud. Wow!

Michael was a very special individual. He will surely be missed by so many people.

Christine H. Vall-Spinosa, Medina